The Great Forks and The Golden Tongs
Takara meditates, contacting Five Days Darkness about where Allear, the missing god of Denandsor, might be. FDD reports that Allear disappeared around the time that the city fell, but his star is still there so he must still exist somewhere. The god's status may be linked to the condition of the city. To determine his current location, Takara suggests we plot all the possibilities on a dart board. So they do. Great Forks They enter Great Forks, a bit obviously wearing Orichalcum. A skeezy stranger in a turban approaches, asking if they need anything, and gives directions to historic sites. Amber tips him one jade coin, then Takara steals it back because Amber doesn't carry enough small change. Debating stealthy vs direct, the party decides to pretend to be tourists. They visit a history museum, finding various simple artifacts, a display about a recently defeated Deathlord, Princess Magnificent. Largo visits a central dojo/temple/gym, the House of Tao, seeking a sparring partner. He picks a fight with muscular strangers, slowly showing more strength each time. Meanwhile, back at the ranch museum, the rest of the party seeks information about Denandsor. There is little information, mostly from scavengerlords. They investigate some Employees Only rooms (by simply walking in). They don't find much, mostly displays that haven't been put out yet, but Kai does find some nice books, one on things found in Denandsor, and one on the hazards of Denandsor. Amber, Takara, and Kai go to retrieve Largo, and continue to go speak with some gods. They seek Tale-Spinner at his citadel to trade information. Tale-Spinner shared the story of Denandsor, the madness of its people and everything Essence-powered, and the effects on Allear, who evidently had some sort of plan in action. The party wants to find gods who fled Denandsor. What would gods do here? Be bored, and get drunk. So... To a pub! They had some drinks, and were approached by the same skeezy guy in a turban who gave directions earlier. Amber buys him some drinks (on principle, Takara pickpockets back the cost from him), and gets some information about craft gods from Denandsor in Great Forks, and the agreement to meet out front. The man does drop a hint about knowing about the jars in Amber's bag. Amber confronts the man, who plays innocent. Takara attacks, searching his cloak (finding the coins Takara had taken from him!) and attempts to hold him at knifepoint, but fails. Amber regains hold of the situation, and the man introduces himself as Tobias, the local god of tourism, but remains friendly. Nexus On Tobias' advice, the party travels to Nexus, the wretched hive of scum and villainy and things Takara can't do. They head for the ruins. They find some old, falling apart books, and contact Serentatis to fix them; they send Shade to go pick him up. The only other thing of significance they find is a bag full of odds and ends; a self-cleaning knife, and a small metallic bunny that Kai finds adorable. Waiting for Serentatis, the party finds an inn, and goes to sleep with Takara keeping watch in the shadows. In the night, the bunny starts hopping out of Kai's bag and hops away. Without waking his party, Takara follows it down into the sewers, to a sleeping man. Takara wakes the man with a knife to his throat, but he doesn't seem to know much about the bunny. Takara returns to the inn and his party members who are luckily unharmed and unrobbed. He even tells them the truth of what happened when Kai notices the bunny is missing. Serentatis arrives and repairs the books. Most are boring books on agriculture, but they do find one interesting book on the Geomantic History of Denandsor. Turns out the city specialized in creating, crafting things. But the creative energy could build up and cause problems. The god of the city, Allear, was a great craftor, and an overall nice guy. The Nexan who wrote the book also indicates that Nexus and Denandsor were close friends back in the day. Largo suggests they contact the god of Nexus: Houston. Amber prays to him, saying, "Houston, we have a bit of a predicament," and describes the issue. They are contacted by someone who takes them to an estate. A Friend, a mortal who calls himself Michael, greets them. They ask to see Allear, but Michael mentions issues the city is having: shadowlands springing up, and a mission nearby theoretically there to combat the shadowlands but also preaching and doing things Nexus is unhappy with. Michael suggests that the party take care of some people at the mission: some need killing (Takara calls those), others need "readjustment" (intimidation--Largo calls them), and others need to replace those killed (Amber and Kai will take care of that). Attacking Immaculates Yet Again Amber and Kai visit the convent in daytime, as visitors simply interested in the religion. Through a small tour, sermon, and fellowship they place faces to most of the names on the list. Missing one who needs redirection, who was mentioned as a martial artist, Kai asks to see the training room. She shows off a bit (but at a level slighlty less than the better martial artists there) and manages to see the bunk of their missing target. Amber manages to find the office of the missing target for assassination, but not the man himself. Amber requests a place to stay for the night for both her and Kai, and the two are given rooms. During the tours, Kai has watched for someone she could easily impersonate, so later she can stun them and take their place to allay suspicion if necessary. Takara slips into the office later to track down more information about the missing assassination target. He investigates, but in a back room accidentally awakens someone, fails multiple times to paralyze or knock the guy out, and limit breaks, but-- Something happens. The party members feel a golden glow from Takara's direction through the link. Takara now knows exactly who and where everyone on the list is, and succeeds at knocking the guy out. Takara takes shadow form and goes to the nearest guy who needs killing and bashes him with a pot angrily. Successful, he heads off to take out his remaining targets, contacting the party to initiate their plans. Largo comes charging in, disguised as an Abyssal, destroying things, creating chaos, and scaring the hell out of EVERYONE. Amber and Kai infiltrate a room, changing some documents to show a new chain of command: the one indicated by Michael's list. The party regroups, and notices immediately that Takara has returned to his usual almost-sane, no-longer-dark, and less attractive self. The rest of the party is quite relieved. They return to their "friend" Michael and report their accomplishments. Houston has now agreed to meet with them that afternoon. Houston does not give them information on Allear, but will provide some info on what they must face in Denandsor. He also mentions a prophesy regarding a "giant bearing orichalcum tongs." Character Thoughts and Reactions Followed by Session Thirty, The Dark Tarot Category:Sunlight on the Water Category:Cultivating the East